Pickup device for trash



.June 27, 1967 o. JOHNSTON PICKUP DEVICE FOR TRASH Filed Jan' 6, 1965 Orin Johnston INVENTOR.

United States Patent 3,328,066 PICKUP DEVICE FOR TRASH Orin Johnston, 2808 NW. 22nd St., Oklahoma City, Okla. 73107 Filed Jan. 6, 1965, Ser. No. 423,736 4 Claims. (Cl. 29419) The present invention relates to new and useful improvements in devices for picking up trash, refuse, and the like.

An important object of the invention is to provide a tool constructed with an elongated cane-like shaft having jaws on the end thereof which jaws may be operated to and away from each other by manipulating a lever provided near the handle end of the shaft. The jaws are formed with plates thereon and are constructed in a semicylindrical shape so that the plates will abut one against the other when the jaws are closed, to thereby form a pocket which can be tilted with the handle to a horizontal position and still retain small objects within the pocket, which have been picked up from the surface by the jaws.

A further object of this invention is to provide serrated edges on the jaws, or blades, which edges are curved outwardly from the jaws to provide means which will make contact with the surface having refuse or trash thereon to thereby make the jaws more capable of picking up small objects from hard and smooth surfaces.

A still further object is to provide a tool of simple and practical construction which has jaws with resilient levers thereon, the jaws and levers being pivotally jointed together about a a common pivot pin provided therefor on the shaft and in a manner to provide an efiicient, durable and simplified construction.

Another object of the invention is to provide a tool for picking up trash from a surface, which has a sliding spring thereon for operating a pair of opposing jaws on the end of the tool, which spring is self-retaining and requires no guide or special pull rod to operate the spring.

These together with other objects and advantages which will become subsequently apparent reside in the details of construction and operation as more fully hereinafter described and claimed, reference being had to the accompanying drawings forming a part hereof, wherein like numerals refer to like parts throughout, and in which:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of the tool in accordance with this invention for picking up trash from a surface;

FIGURE 2 is an end view of the tool of this invention with the shaft thereof partly broken away, and looking into the open jaws, and the plates attached to the jaws, with the jaws being disposed in a normally open position;

FIGURE 3 is a top view of the tool of this invention looking down on the jaws, which are in a normally open position, and showing the springs and shaft thereof being cut away in a cross sectional view; and

FIGURE 4 is an end view of this invention similar to FIGURE 2 but showing the jaws closed by the spring means to a position for lifting trash therein, and showing the plates on the jaws in abutting relationship.

Referring more in detail to the drawings, the tool includes an elongated shaft 12 which has a pair of jaws 14 connected at one end thereof by a bolt 16 which extends through levers 18 provided on the jaws and through the elongated shaft 12, to thereby mount the jaws to the shaft. A nut 20 is threaded to one end of the bolt 16 to prevent the bolt from withdrawing from the jaws and shaft. The bolt 16 provides a pivot means about which the jaws and the levers 18 provided on the jaws may rotate to and away from each other. The jaws 14 are formed in substantially semi-cylinrdical shape and have lateral coplanar closing plates 22 connected thereto at the ends thereof which plates are adapted to abut one against the other when the jaws are closed (FIG. 4) to thereby provide a pocket within the jaws which can be used to lift small articles of trash, when the shaft is raised to a horizontal position. The jaws have serrated teeth 24 at the ends thereof, which serrated teeth are bent outwardly from the semicylindrical jaws to thereby form a means which is adapted to picking up trash from smooth or hard surfaces.

Connected to the other end of the shaft 12 is a handle 26. A trip lever 28 is connected to the handle by a pin 30 which extends through yoke arms 32 on the lever 28 and extends through an aperture provided therefor in the handle 26, and in the shaft 12. The pin 30 may be riveted on each end thereof to prevent accidental withdrawal of the pin 30 from its position in the lever, handle, and shaft. The levers 18 on the jaws have apertures 34 provided therein. An elongated rod 36 is connected at one end (upper end) to the lever 28 by a pin 38 and is con nected at its other end to a resilient self-retaining spring 40 by an eye loop 45. The resilient spring 40 has a coat hanger twist 42 at one end thereof and a shaft loop 43 intermediate its ends and which extends about the shaft 12 and extends into a vertical rod loop 44 which is engaged 'by the eye loop 45 on the rod 36, whereby the resilient spring 40 is connected to the trip lever 28. The other end of the resilient spring 40 extends as two arms 46 and 48 from the coat hanger twist 42 and terminate as two hooks 50 and 52. The hooks 50 and 52 are inserted into the apertures 34 provided in the lever arms 18- of the jaws 14. The hooks are forced into their engaging position with the apertures 34 on levers 18, whereby the spring will tend to assume a natural expanded position, with spring tensioned arms 46 and 48 spread beyond the position which they can assume while retained in the apertures 34 of the lever arms 18 thereby automatically biasing the jaws toward their open position.

The jaws 14 together with the lever arms 18 are substantially the same in configuration but are positioned on the shaft in opposing positions so that the lever arms 18 for each jaw will be found on opposite sides of the shaft 12.

The operation of the tool for picking up trash is performed by manipulating the lever 28 on the handle 26. An operator using the tool, and desiring to pick trash up from a flat surface, will place the open jaws of the tool about the article or articles to be picked up, and then the operator will squeeze the lever 28 towards the handle 26, the lever 28 pivoting about the rivet pin 30. This operation will lift the rod 36 towards the handle 26, and also lift the resilient spring 40 towards the handle 26, thereby raising the levers 18 on the clamping jaws 14. When the levers 18 are raised, in such a manner, the jaws 14 will be clamped shut in the position shown in FIGURE 4, with the plates 22 thereof abutting one against the other to form a pocket in which the trash may be lifted with the shaft 12 of the tool to a horizontal position without fear that the trash will fall from the jaws 14. When the lever 28 is released, the resilient spring 40 will attempt to resume an unrestricted position with the arms 46 and 48 thereof spread to a Wide position beyond the position which the arms 46 and 48 can obtain while restricted within the apertures 34 in the lever arms 18 of the jaws 14. As the spring arms 46 and 48 spread to a wider position the levers 18 will be spread apart to the maximum position which they can obtain which position will leave the lever arms in a substantially horizontal plane, or a plane containing both the apertures 34 in each lever arm 18, and the rivet 16 about which the lever arms pivot. This position of the spring 40 with the spring arms 46 and 48 spread wide, and the lever arms 18 assuming a coplanar position, is illustrated in FIGURE 2. This movement of the lever arms will force the jaws 14 apart, opening the jaws and the pocket formed by the jaws when the jaws 14 are closed. This last-mentioned operation is performed when it is desired to release the trash from within the pocket within the clamping jaws 14. The operation of this simplified trash remover tool is simple and easy to use, when trash is desired to be lifted by using the tool the lever 28 is squeezed by the operator of the tool towards the handle 26. When the trash is desired to be released from the tool the lever 28 is released so that it may assume a position away from the handle 26, which is controlled by the resilient spring 40 sliding by the shaft loop 43 on the shaft 12. As the arms 46 and 48 of the spring 40 resume a widespread position according to the limitations provided by the apertures 34 in the lever arms 18 of the clamping jaws, the jaws will be moved to a wide open position.

The spring means 40 constitutes and provides a unique one-piece unit wherein the loop 43 constitutes and provides a collar which is slidingly shiftable in a manner to assume the normal down position in FIG. 2 and the up or elevated position in FIG. 4. It will be noted too that the inherent resiliency of the downwardly and outwardly divergent arms or legs 46 and 48 of this unit provides the desired spring-loaded or resilient toggle joint, that is, a joint wherein the tongues or lever arms 18 coordinate with the two legs to achieve the unique toggle joint action disclosed in FIGS. 2 and 4.

The foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the invention. Further, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the invention to the exact construction and operation shown and described, and accordingly all uitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the invention as claimed.

What is claimed as new is as follows:

1. A tool for picking up trash comprising, a shaft, a pair of clamping jaws situated at one end of said shaft, said jaws having resilient levers thereon, pivot means mounting said jaws on said one end of said shaft, said jaws having serrated ground engaging teeth thereon adapted to overlap when said jaws are clamped shut, said jaws being adapted to retain trash therebetween, an elongate resilient means connected to said shaft, said elongate resilient means being connected to said resilient levers on said jaws, said elongate resilient means being adapted to move said resilient levers to thereby close said clamping jaws, a handle means on the other end of said shaft, said elongate resilient means being connected to said handle means whereby said handle means is operable to move said clamping jaws to a closed position, said clamping jaws having plates on one end thereof, said plates being adapted to abut with one another when said jaws are clamped shut whereby trash picked up in said clamping jaws may be held in said jaws and against said plates when said shaft is raised to a horizontal position.

2. An implement for picking up and handling trash comprising a vertically elongated shaft having upper and lower end portions, said upper end portion provided with a fixed handgrip, a rigid but manually squeezable trip lever opposed and adjacent to said 'handgrip and having one end pivotally mounted on said upper end portion, a pair of companion jaws situated adjacent the lower end portion of said shaft, said jaws having opposed upper edge portions provided with jaw actuating levers projecting laterally therefrom, one lever directed to the left of the lower end portion of said shaft and the other lever directed to the right of said lower end portion, the lower end portion of said shaft being interposed between and straddled by both of said levers and said levers being pivoted on said lower end portion, a link alongside said shaft having an upper end pivotally connected to said trip lever, and unitary spring means having a component part shifta'bly slidable on said shaft above said jaws, said means embodying integral constantly tensioned components which are pivotally operatively joined to free end portions of said levers, said levers in conjunction with said tensioned components constituting and providing a self-contained spring-loaded toggle joint which automatically functions to spread said jaws apart to assume a normal open ready-to-use position.

3. The implement according to claim 2, and wherein said first-mentioned component part embodies a collarlike loop slidingly embracing said shaft, and said secondnamed components comprise a pair of like downwardly outwardly diverging springy arms having hooks at lower ends connected with apertures provided therefor in oriented free end portions of the respectively cooperable levers.

4. The implement according to claim 3, and wherein said jaws are horizontally elongated and semi-circular in transverse section, are provided at like ends with coacting lateral end-closing plates which abut each other when the jaws are closed to thus define an elongated cuplike holder, and also wherein the corresponding lower lengthwise edges of said jaws are provided with overlapping but outwardly flared rows of surface contacting small article pickup teeth.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 66,492 7/1867 'Hellen 294118 X 283,598 8/1883 Gosnell 294112 X 297,788 4/1884 Green 294l6 407,465 7/1889 Brick 294118 X 1,168,919 1/1916 Surface 294118 X 1,453,812 5/1923 Thomas 29422 1,531,567 3/1925 Niblock 813. 8 2,961,674 11/1960 Hunt 29428 X 3,105,715 10/1963 Happ 294-19 X HUGO O. SCHULZ, Primary Examiner. 

1. A TOOL FOR PICKING UP TRASH COMPRISING, A SHAFT, A PAIR OF CLAMPING JAWS SITUATED AT ONE END OF SAID SHAFT, SAID JAWS HAVING RESILIENT LEVERS THEREON, PIVOT MEANS MOUNTING SAID JAWS ON SAID ONE END OF SAID SHAFT, SAID JAWS HAVING SERRATED GROUND ENGAGING TEETH THEREON ADAPTED TO OVERLAP WHEN SAID JAWS ARE CLAMPED SHUT, SAID JAWS BEING ADAPTED TO RETAIN TRASH THEREBETWEEN, AN ELONGATE RESILIENT MEANS CONNECTED TO SAID SHAFT, SAID ELONGATE RESILIENT MEANS BEING CONNECTED TO SAID RESILIENT LEVERS ON SAID JAWS, SAID ELONGATE RESILIENT MEANS BEING ADAPTED TO MOVE SAID RESILIENT LEVERS TO THEREBY CLOSE SAID CLAMPING JAWS, A HANDLE MEANS ON THE OTHER END OF SAID SHAFT, SAID 